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Matthew Houston (1730-c1805)/Notes
Re: John Houston brother to Gen. Sam Hou Posted by: Tony M.Wilson Date: February 17, 2002 at 19:41:19 In Reply to: Re: John Houston brother to Gen. Sam Hou by Brandi Hagli Message 2804 of Genforum Houston Board According to Leslie Lyle Campbell who wrote (The Houston Family in Virgina, Lexington, 1956) John Houston (1690-1754), the immigrant ancestor, came from County Antrim, Ireland in 1735 with his mother, wife and six children. The Houstons' ancestral home was Renfrewshire east of Glasgow, Scotland. The family tarried in Philadelphia, but eventually migrated from Pennsylvania to Rockbridge County, Virginia between 1742 and 1750. The six children of John Houston and Margaret Cunningham, were Robert (the grandfather of Gen. Sam Houston), Isabella, Esther, John, Samuel, and Matthew. In 1780's, Matthew Houston (c.1730-1803/7), one of John Houston's six children, left Rockbridge County as a leader of a group of settlers and migrated to an area which is now Blount Co, TN. Here on Nine Mile Creek about 1788, he built a fort or blockhouse for protection against the Indians. My ancestor Robert Wilson was with the group of settlers that came to Blount County, Robert's land adjoined Matthew's. Matthew Houston died about 1803 or 1807, his wife was Martha Lyle. They had several children: John, Samuel, Esther, and Margaret. The son, John Houston (1762-1835) married Rachel Balch and they had at least five children: James who was executor of Robert Wilson's will 25 Dec.1826; Robert, Matthew, and John who married Robert Wilson's daughter, Eleanor. After marrying Eleanor, John Houston married Ann White in Blount Co, 16 July, 1829 and then Patsie Houston. Samuel Wilson one of Robert's older children, returned to Rockbridge County with some of the Houston relatives at the age of ten and was raised as a foster son, after the second time Robert's family were burned out by the Indians. One of the immigrant sons of John Houston, married Sarah Todd. Part of this family moved to Tennessee, while a son John Davies Houston, married Martha Wilson, the daughter of Rev. Samuel Wilson, son of Robert Wilson, they stayed in Rockbridge Co. John Davies and Martha Houston had a son named Samuel Wilson Houston. Sarah Todd Houston, the widow of John Houston moved from Virginia to join relatives in Blount Co, Tn. where she died in 1795. James Houston, son of John Houston (1762-1835) settled in the Washington District of North Caroline, (Grant #1622), the Gillespies. John Houston (1762-1835) was a private in the Virginia Militia from New Providence, listed in the Blount Co, Tn. soldier's list for serving in the American Revolution. Inez Burns listed James, John and Matthew Houston among those who had a passport to enter the Cherokee Nation in 1798. John Houston, who married Eleanor Wilson, was a third cousin to Gen. Sam Houston of Texas Fame. Sam Houston's mother Elizabeth Paxton Houston was left a widow in Rockbridge County, VA. She then moved with her family of small children to Blount Co, Tennessee to live with the family of her uncle-in-law, Matthew Houston. This information came from my book on Robert Wilson. Leslie Lyle Campbell's book on John Houston and family would give a lot more information. Tony Category:Notes pages